City Plans To Set Aside Industrial Corridors

The Chicago Plan Commission approved a new city policy Thursday that will make it harder for established factories and manufacturers to be squeezed out of neighborhoods by homes and shops.

The policy involves the establishment of industrial corridors in which new non-industrial uses would be prohibited without the permission of the Plan Commission.

The first stage of the policy implementation, also approved Thursday, was the designation of eight industrial corridors on the West Side. The corridors for the North Side are expected to be announced in April, and those for the South Side later this year.

Rick Wendy, a city deputy commissioner for planning and economic development, said the policy represents a tough new weapon in the effort to protect the city`s industrial base.

Right now, in most cases, all a developer needs is a zoning change to convert industrial land to retail or residential development. Manufacturers and neighborhood economic activists praised the new policy during the commission`s meeting Thursday.

``Putting in residential loft conversion next to a factory that has truck deliveries at 5 a.m. is not a compatible use,`` said Ted Wysocki, executive director of the Chicago Association of Neighborhood Development Organizations. Richard Moellering, owner of Gamco Industries, 3729 N. Ravenswood Ave., and a member of the Ravenswood Industrial Council, told the commission,